Our blog entries for an Epic Journey are usually a mix of “Daily Diary” category posts by Sid, and “Random” category posts by Doris and whoever else has come along on the trip with us. We also try to create a GoogleMap of the route in advance and update it as we go along.
Here are the journeys in the blog – some Epic and some less so. And because not all of life needs to be Epic, Sid also sometimes writes notes Between Journeys.
Romin’ or T(o)urin’ – with Mr Electric
What do you do in the winter? Sid and Doris sometimes sit and read Cicerone guidebooks, and were fascinated to find one describing the Francigena Way, a pilgrim route from Canterbury to Rome that people are now rediscovering/ reinventing/ diverting to go past their hospitality offerings. Only three facts about the route are definitely agreed on by everyone – it started in Canterbury, ended in Rome and went over the Great St Bernard Pass.
And at the risk of spoiling the reader’s excitement, Sid and Doris did indeed go over the Great St Bernard Pass. With the help of Mr Zoomy Electric Bike and his capacity to carry large amounts of mildly grubby cycle kit up hills until he runs out of battery.
Doris has worked her usual magic with the map, and the journey starts in May 2024 here.
Going Down South in the Jolly Green Giant
For reasons too complicated to explain here, Doris had an appointment in Delaware in August 2022. And as you know with Sid and Doris, one thing often leads to another and in this case it led to the question “Could we go to New Orleans for Doris’s birthday?” And the answer was: Yes! The route is on the map below, y’all, and the blog pages start here.
To Istanbul and back in the Firefly
This is the story of Sid, Doris and a borrowed Alvis as they try pre-war rallying for the first time.
Sid and Doris do not count rallies as epic journeys as the route, timetable, accommodation and support are all provided. They are fun but (or indeed, because) someone else does all the heavy lifting. Even so, Sid has written some commentary for the period of the rally. On the journey home from Istanbul we decided that the car was not reliable enough for the original route via Albania and Zagreb, and took the less epic (but still bonkers) ferry from Igoumenitsou to Ancona.
During the 7,500km, five week trip the Firefly’s breakdowns gave some interesting opportunities for extra tourism for Sid and Doris and indeed a couple of their friends too. And yet we still think we will enjoy our own Alvis and have plans for an epic trip in 2024. The picture below shows the overall route (it’s just a picture, not a Google Map, but you can click on it to see more detail) and the story starts in June 2022 here.
The Winter Weavers’ Way – on our own and facing 67m of ascent over four days
The scales told their own story after 2021. Several Epic and not-so-Epic journeys with some concentrated eating and sitting had turned the doughty duo into the doughy duo. And with a (joint) 125th birthday looming this year Sid and Doris decided to try out long distance walking to see if they like it (or in Sid’s case, still like it, as he did walk the Pennine Way as a yoof).
The story starts here, and the map is here:
Hermann’s Winter Holiday – with the tin-top on our trusty Pagoda
As 2021 ground its way to an end and the medical world reached around in the depths of the Greek alphabet for new letters to apply to Covid variants, we decided to take our triple-jabbed arms and flee the country in search of winter sunshine. Travel restrictions were changing faster than the list of Boris’s known children so we went for a simple two-country option involving no air travel – a tour around the Iberian peninsula in Hermann Zer Germann with his beautiful, dry and noise-suppressing Pagoda hard-top roof.
Many classic car owners refuse to take their pride and joys out during the winter due to the risk of getting the hot underside of the car coated in the super-rust formula of melting slush from salted roads. The Iberian roads were dry and salt-free but alas in the final ten miles to our house the diligent gritters from East Herts were busy at work on a dark and wet A120. Hermann has been rewarded with the garden sprinkler under him for a long time to get it all off and some extra polishing all round. The story starts here.
Vamos! – with the Ford Country Squire and other friends
During the first part of 2021 we were planning a Road Trip across the Yew Ess of Ay, possibly in the company of Rusty, a grizzled mechanic from somewhere in mid-America with a fund of useful folk wisdom. We started the research to find an appropriate car – something that would provoke conversation in petrol stations sorry I mean gas stations – and we ended up buying a Ford Country Squire. Longer than some English counties, and with a turning circle bigger than many of them, there are more details on it here.
By late June 2021 we were still hoping that Boris would let us out and Joe Biden would let us in, but the clock was ticking and the Ford Country Squire was ready. So in a moment of great creativity we decided to go the long way to America, via Mexico. Vamos! The adventure started just one week later on the 3rd of July here.
The entire trip was composed of two weeks in Mexico in order to qualify for entry into America, then two weeks of sailing on the East Coast, and then five weeks on the West-East roadtrip, across the middle of America and through a land that Covid forgot (or maybe vice versa).
Over The Sea, possibly to Skye – in “Flyer II”
When you start a new journey in your yacht’s logbook, you are encouraged to keep an open and flexible mind, in case the weather intervenes and you need to change your plans. Fortunately neither Sid nor Doris had actually made any plans for the two weeks of bareboating on Flyer II, with just a vague notion that the journey would start from somewhere near Oban and then meander around the Inner Hebrides. Or not. In case it was too windy, we took our walking boots so we could just enjoy the fabulous scenery while living in our damp water-borne cottage. The first entry about this trip was written in May 2021 and the map below shows the route that we eventually took.
A Narrow Escape – in the good ship “Lydia”
Inspired by Terry Darlington’s “Narrow Dog to Carcassonne”, Sid and Doris decided to find out what the attraction of narrow boating could possibly be. Apart from the opportunity to drink beer after interacting with some of England’s finest industrial heritage, that is.
This may turn out to be part of a longer series of mini-epics, but for now it has its own category and the first post was on April 19th 2021.
Not The Thistle – with the Mini
We were all packed and ready to leave for Rally The Globe’s “Highland Thistle” adventure rally when it had to be called off due to the changing Covid rules. We were looking forward to it so much that we invented our own route, and for the first time in our lives we visited Orkney and the Outer Hebrides. We went in the Mini, which spreads a little bit of happiness everywhere it goes. The first post in the Not The Thistle was on October 2nd 2020 and is here: https://sidanddoris.com/2020/10/thisll-be-thistle.html
We took our friend Bothy McWeevil (proud proprietor of the famous Thistle Garden) with us to opine on the various opportunities available to relieve tourists of their spare cash. His posts are tagged #bothymcweevil.
The Grand Tour in a Time of Covid – with the Pagoda
The various Covid travel restrictions gave us a chance to take Hermann Zer German, our Mercedes Pagoda, to corners of Europe which would usually be impassably choked with tourist buses. The first post in the Grand Tour was on July 30th 2020 and is here: https://sidanddoris.com/2020/07/grand-tour-2020-map.html.
As the EuroEpic in the previous year felt sometimes as though it was a tour of Europe’s many past wars, we decided that this time we would make sure to visit things celebrating humanity’s kindness and ingenuity. These posts are tagged #kindnessandingenuity.
EuroEpic 19 – on bicycles
The EuroEpic was a cycle trip which was initially intended to go sort-of-round-the-Alps but then our plans got a bit bigger. First post in the EuroEpic was on February 1st 2019 and is here: https://sidanddoris.com/2019/02/epic-19-were-going-to-do-it.html
Sid wrote the daily diary, Doris jotted down random thoughts, songs and poetry (a long day in the saddle needs some distractions) and members of the Collective helpfully piped up with their views along the route. We also collected #virtualsouvenirs due to the lack of packing space on the bicycles.
And that’s it. More? You want more? Would you like us to hear about Sid’s somewhat challenging London-Capetown trip in a Peugeot 405, or the time that we cycled to Mount Everest Base Camp without ever seeing Mount Everest, or the journeys that we did in the Opel Kadett – some of which we actually completed, or the Mighty Eric (28′ long) and his heroic cross-channel exploits? Put your comments here and we will see what we can do.